Dollond & Aitchison disappers from the high street with Boots Opticians merger - Telegraph Retail and Consumer Dollond & Aitchison disappers from the high street with Boots Opticians merger The Dollond & Aitchison name will disappear from the high street after more than 250 years with the optician chain agreeing to merge with rival Boots Opticians. By Jonathan Sibun 6:09PM GMT 29 Jan 2009 Alliance Boots and De Rigo, the European eyeware group that owns Dollond & Atchison (D&A), have agreed to combine the two businesses under the Boots Opticians name. Alliance Boots, owned by US private equity group KKR, will take a majority stake in the new company. The financial details of the deal – such as whether it involves any cash payment or the size of the stake retained by De Rigo – remain unclear. Sources close to Boots said De Rigo's stake was "substantial". The merger will create a chain with 690 shops across the UK and annual sales of £350m.

The catalyst for the merger is unclear but one leading industry source suggested it would "not be unrelated to the recession", adding: "Economic challenges have probably brought the situation to a head more rapidly." Stefano Pessina, executive chairman at Alliance Boots, said: "Our plan is to grow and develop the new business, building on the strengths of the Boots brand." Between them the two chains employ 5,000 staff. While sources close to Boots suggested the overlap between the companies' stores was minimal and therefore that job cuts would be limited, the industry source disputed that claim. "Anyone with an A-Z of the UK would dispute that the overlap is minimal. It is significant," he said. "The overlap is a mathematical fact." Initial job cuts look likely to fall at D&A's Birmingham base with the new company set to be headquartered in Boots' base in Nottingham. The deal is subject to anti-trust clearance. It is not clear whether Boots and De Rigo could be forced to offload stores to secure approval. D&A was founded in 1750 when James Dollond set up shop in London. It now operates more than 400 stores across the UK.

Boots Heritage Boots Heritage home 1849 1877 1885 1892 1898 1915 1921 1925 1928 1933 1936 1947 1953 1970 1985 1990 1996 2001 2008 2012 Boots Heritage Boots is now a household name with stores all over the world and a number of hugely successful own-brand ranges. It’s risen from humble beginnings to become the well-known and loved company it is today. This timeline charts the development of the business from its first days as a herbalist store in Nottingham in the mid 1800s to its position as a modern global brand. 1849 John Boot opened the first herbalist store in Nottingham offering an affordable alternative to traditional medicines. The Thomsonian system of healthcare, first developed in the US, appealed to the devoutly religious John, as it offered a practical approach to enable the poorest to help themselves. 1850 Jesse Boot was born in Nottingham.

1870 John's widow, Mary Boot, and son, Jesse began trading as M & J Boot, Herbalists. Jesse was rewarded with a partnership in the family business, having left school at the age of 13 to give full time support to his mother. The sale of herbs was a big feature of the early business and included roots, plants, and flowers collected locally, many of them dried on the parlour walls at the back of the shop and then powdered. 1877 By the late 1870s the working classes were transferring their allegiance from herbalism to patent remedies, encouraged by heavy advertising that growing numbers were able to read. When Jesse took sole control of the business in 1877 he launched an extensive advertising campaign under the slogan ‘health for a shilling’ which positioned Boots as the store which offered traditional medicines at greatly reduced prices. 1883 Boot & Company Ltd formed. 1884 Jesse Boot appointed his first qualified pharmacist, Edwin Waring. Waring’s principles were closely aligned to Jesse’s and within just a few years his dispensing services were offered at half the price charged by the other chemists in Nottingham.

1885 Early manufacturing took place in a small cottage close to the store in Nottingham. However as demands from the expanding store network grew, space was found in a factory on Island Street in Nottingham which had excellent rail, road and canal transportation links. Within just a few years Boots had taken over the entire factory and acquired further properties nearby. 1886 Jesse married Florence Annie Rowe. They had met the previous year when Jesse took a much-needed holiday to Jersey. Florence, the daughter of a bookseller and stationers, took a keen interest in the business, introducing new product ranges and progressive staff welfare initiatives. 1888 Company renamed Boots Pure Drug Company Ltd. 1892 A flagship department style store was opened in Pelham Street, Nottingham. The impressive new shop showcased the varied array of products now available at Boots, from the dispensary, perfumery and stationery on the ground floor to the pictures, glass and fancy goods on the upstairs gallery. The exquisite interior design was heavily influenced by Jesse’s wife Florence. Impressed by the latest innovations, such as electric lighting, the store "took the public fancy amazingly". The Pelham Street shop became the model for future Boots stores.

1894 The Boots Athletic Club was founded. The social club was open to all employees and encompassed a number of sports ranging from cricket to skittles. Jesse and Florence Boot were keen to promote sports and social clubs, seeing them as beneficial to their employees health as well as encouraging camaraderie and team spirit. 1895 Boots pioneered the use of analytical chemistry as a means of quality control with the appointment of the first analytical chemist. The department soon developed and it became an established principle within the company that nothing should be sent out to the stores without first passing a number of rigorous examinations. 1898 Boots Booklovers’ Library was established. Within just a few years around half of Boots stores had library facilities. The service promoted the pleasure of reading to a wider audience and the small subscription fees made literature affordable. The libraries had a significant impact: at their height in 1938, books were being exchanged at a rate of 35 million a year. By the time of their closure they had firmly established themselves within British popular culture. 1911 Eleanor Kelly was appointed as the company’s first full time welfare professional. Her responsibilities involved the welfare of all female members of staff in Nottingham.

Within just a few years and with the help of three assistants, Eleanor renovated the girls’ canteen and opened a company sick room. 1913 The first free educational provision was established for employees through the offer of a series of evening classes run in partnership with Nottingham’s Education Committee. By 1920 this opportunity was extended as employees aged between 14 and 16 were granted half a day a week to study a variety of vocational and academic lessons at the Boots Day Continuation School. 1915 During the First World War Britain lost its supply of chemicals from Germany. In order to bridge the gap, Jesse brought together a team of experts to begin the research and manufacture of key synthetic chemicals such as aspirin. Boots created a new manufacturing process which involved seventeen different analytical tests, and claimed that their aspirin was the “purest on the market”. The company was soon supplying the British Government with medicines for field hospitals and manufacturing products such as water sterilizing tablets which, at a concentration of 1 in 300,000, claimed to destroy the organisms of cholera, typhoid, coli and dysentery in about thirty minutes.

The first employee magazine was produced to raise money for colleagues who were serving in the armed forces. In total twelve editions of the magazine Comrades in Khaki were printed between1915 and 1916. Each one carried a letter from Jesse and Florence and contained news, letters and photographs from employees both at home and overseas. After the war, the company launched two new magazines, The Bee and The Beacon, which further developed the “bond of union” between the company and its employees. 1919 Boots products first became available to buy overseas in India. A network of agents was soon established throughout the world to market the Boots brand abroad. 1920 Boots Pure Drug Company Ltd sold to the United Drug Company of America. 1921 The first works surgery was opened with a part-time medical officer. Within just a few years the professional team had risen to twenty. “The Company has recognised that its responsibility does not end with the weekly pay envelope”. Boots registered its first pharmaceutical patent. Stabilarsan, an effective treatment for syphilis was approved by the Ministry for Health for use in public institutions. It was the first arsenical preparation introduced in a solution ready for injection.

1923 Boots became one of just four companies licensed by the British Medical Research Council to undertake the mass production of the newly discovered, life saving drug. Four thousand employees welcomed the Prince of Wales to the Island Street Factory site. During his visit he was given a tour of the Packed Goods Department and the Research and Pharmaceutical Laboratories. 1924 A number of Boots stores opened surgical departments selling specialist equipment. These areas were supported by qualified nurses. Services included baby weighing, home visits and measurement taking and advice on surgical trusses and belts. 1925 A 24 hour pharmacy was opened at the Boots store in Piccadilly Circus. The service was available countrywide, as medicines were distributed wherever they were needed. 1926 John Boot, Jesse and Florence’s son became Chairman of Boots Pure Drug Company. 1927 A two hundred acre site was purchased at Beeston in Nottingham to expand manufacturing capability, as the existing sites in the centre of Nottingham had reached full capacity. 1928 University College, Nottingham transferred to a large new campus, thanks to a significant donation of land and money from Jesse Boot.

1929 Jesse Boot died at the age of 81 1933 The D10 factory on the Beeston site was hailed in the press as the ‘factory of Utopia’. Designed by the renowned engineer, Owen Williams, it was praised for its impressive size, functional design and innovative features. The factory epitomised the scientific credentials of the company, where modern equipment brought efficiencies in production and improvements to working conditions. The 1000th Boots store opened in Galashiels, Scotland. The company came back into British ownership 1934 The company announced a reduction in working hours from 5½ days to a 5- day week, without a reduction in pay, for all D10 factory staff. This was made possible by the incredible efficiency of the new D10 factory. Conscious of the country’s unemployment problems, John Boot took the unprecedented decision to reduce working hours, rather than opt for redundancies, as a way of finding a more socially responsible solution.

The experiment became a permanent fixture the following year when the beneficial effects of the changes had been investigated: “the general feeling is one of great appreciation, many people have said that it is the finest thing the firm has done for them”. 1935 The original ‘Number Seven’ range was the company’s answer to providing a prestigious but affordable beauty range. Distinctive in its yellow and blue art deco packaging, the range encapsulated fifty years of beauty experience. It consisted of 11 products and was advertised as being “the modern way to loveliness”. Specialist consultants were brought in to give expert customer advice and some stores even opened Number Seven Beauty Salons. 1936 The first overseas Boots branch opened in New Zealand in Wellington. Speaking at a dinner in Wellington in 1936, the company Chairman, John Boot declared: “Profit is not our main objective.

But we are proud of the great health and domestic service that we have built up, and we believe that we can extend that service gradually in the British Empire and make the benefits of our methods and our organisation accessible… overseas.” 1939 Boots sun tan creams had been popular since the 1920s, but the launch of Soltan addressed customers’ desire for a non-greasy lotion. Launched as a cream and a lotion, the fantastic summer of 1939 helped to make the brand an instant success. 1944 Boots began mass manufacturing penicillin The Ministry of Supply asked the company to design and operate a ‘surface culture’ plant for the mass production of penicillin. At the time, the Boots factory was the world’s largest antibiotics manufacturing facility. “Boots saved unnumbered lives and prevented immeasurable pain, by producing in quantity, at very short notice, the desperately needed penicillin” 1947 International wholesale and manufacturing business expanded. 1949 Boots Pure Drug Company (India) began trading in 1946 and a new pharmaceutical factory was commissioned with production starting at the Sion factory in Bombay in 1949.

1951 Boots became the first UK chemist store to introduce self-service stores. Boots opened its first self service store at Burnt Oak, Edgware in London. It was amongst the first examples of self service in retail in the UK. 1953 Boots responded to the growing teenage market with the launch of its vibrant 17 range. Timothy Whites & Taylors Ltd chemist’s chain acquired adding 622 new stores. 1969 Ibuprofen was launched as a prescription drug called Brufen in February 1969, and was the result of 16 years of research. Dr Stewart Adams led a research team, which began work in 1953. They tested over 1,500 new compounds during their search before Brufen could be marketed as a potent non-steroidal antirheumatic agent. By 1980 Brufen had become the U.K’s no 1 anti-inflammatory treatment.

“It is a curious irony, and at the same time fitting and appropriate, that the world’s most widely prescribed compound for rheumatoid diseases was developed at The Boots Company, because the company’s founder, Jesse Boot, was a victim of this painful and crippling disease”. 1970 The Boots Charitable Trust was set up to fund and support charities in Nottinghamshire. To date, over its forty year lifetime, Boots Charitable Trust has donated around £10m to health, lifelong learning and community development in Nottinghamshire. 1983 Boots trialled its first optical in-store practice in Nottingham and followed it with six further practices in the following year. By March 1986 the total had risen to sixty eight. 1984 Boots received the Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement for the discovery and development of ibuprofen. 1987 Boots Opticians was formed and became the UK’s second largest optical retail chain following the acquisition of Clement Clarke and Curry and Paxton Ltd. The first free standing Boots Opticians practice opened in September 1987, in Durham. 1989 Natural Collection was launched.

The brand proposition was 'fun, colourful and exotic' and the range consisted of hair, skin and bath products containing essences of rich tropical fruits, a variety of herbs and exotically scented flowers. 1990 Boots Contract Manufacturing and Boots International were established. 1992 Boots launched UVA star rating for its sun care range. 1995 Botanics skincare range launched. The range combined sophisticated high-tech formulations using the most effective natural ingredients. It was positioned as a skincare range using natural extracts scientifically formulated. Boots Pharmaceuticals sold to BASF. 1996 Botanics skincare range launched. The range combined sophisticated high-tech formulations using the most effective natural ingredients. It was positioned as a skincare range using natural extracts scientifically formulated. Boots Pharmaceuticals sold to BASF. 1997 Launch of Boots Laboratories skincare range in France and Portugal. 2009 Merger of Boots Opticians and Dollond & Aitchison to form the second largest optical chain in the UK. Launch of BootsWebMD.com offering customers a health and wellness information portal. Boots Extracts Fairtrade was launched and became one of the first complete ranges of beauty care products to be certified as containing Fairtrade ingredients.

Prince Charles visited the Boots site in Nottingham to discover more about the company’s corporate social responsibility activities, in particular environmental progress. Launch of No7 Protect & Perfect Intense Beauty Serum. 2010 Boots brands were sold directly to third party retailers in the US and other countries. In partnership with Mothercare, Boots introduced ‘mini club’ – a new clothing and accessories brand for babies and children up to six years old. Boots Pharmaceuticals launched. 2012 American drug store chain Walgreens acquired a 45% stake in Alliance Boots. Both Boots UK and Boots Opticians were ranked in the ‘Sunday Times 25 Best Big Companies to work for’ awards for the third year running. 2013 Duo aim for 200 more Boots Opticians: Boots Opticians chairman designate Pradip Patel and its proposed new managing director Andy Ferguson spoke to David Challinor following the news of the merger with Dollond & Aitchison. - Free Online Library Duo aim for 200 more Boots Opticians: Boots Opticians chairman designate Pradip Patel and its proposed new managing director Andy Ferguson spoke to David Challinor following the news of the merger with Dollond & Aitchison.

<a href=" Citations: MLA style: "Duo aim for 200 more Boots Opticians: Boots Opticians chairman designate Pradip Patel and its proposed new managing director Andy Ferguson spoke to David Challinor following the news of the merger with Dollond & Aitchison.." The Free Library. 2009 Ten Alps Publishing 18 Jan. 2017 Chicago style: The Free Library. S.v. Duo aim for 200 more Boots Opticians: Boots Opticians chairman designate Pradip Patel and its proposed new managing director Andy Ferguson spoke to David Challinor following the news of the merger with Dollond & Aitchison.." Retrieved Jan 18 2017 from APA style: Duo aim for 200 more Boots Opticians: Boots Opticians chairman designate Pradip Patel and its proposed new managing director Andy Ferguson spoke to David Challinor following the news of the merger with Dollond & Aitchison.. (n.d.) >The Free Library. (2014).

Retrieved Jan 18 2017 from David Challinor: With the news having sunk in over the past few days can you tell me about the reactions that you've had from staff? Pradip Patel: We briefed our people from Thursday (January 29) onwards so we made sure they were all aware. There was an initial conference call, and then the practice teams were briefed. The next day we took all our practice managers out so we could take them through the details of the merger, so they could go back and brief their teams more fully. I have to say that the feedback has been good because the staff, in general, have got the rationale and logic of the merger because clearly it allows us to do things in a much better way, both for our people and our customers. There is a level of excitement and enthusiasm which we haven't seen for some time--just to illustrate to you without numbers, in spite of pulling people out (of their work) last week it didn't impact on sales at all because when they came back they had more than made up for their absence. DC: Andy Ferguson, what about D&A?

Andy Ferguson: We had more to communicate in many ways because, first of all, the change in the brand and the change in location for the head office. So we also made sure that our people were briefed in advance of any public notice coming out. We briefed all of our support centre colleagues in the morning on the day of the announcement and then we had a series of conference calls that morning for branch teams. And then in the evening we brought all our optometrists, branch managers and franchisees together in a series of seven meetings around the country, each headed up by one of the board team. The overall feedback has, of course, had a degree of sadness with the brand changing over time, but our people are incredibly supportive of us moving to the Boots brand because they see both companies sharing the same values. We share the same clinical heritage, we believe in the same things, we want the same service for our customers. I'm happy with the feedback that I've had from the people who are working in branches who are delighted to be part of a bigger company that will challenge Specsavers.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Even some of our long-serving people working in our support centre who will be affected by the move and who will not be able to make the transfer to Nottingham have taken the time to come to me and say 'yeah I know this has been tough for you and tough for the business but we honestly believe that you are making the right decision for the future of the business'. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DC: You say in the press release you will offer staff an 'enhanced business' to give them better career opportunities. Can you tell me a little more about those opportunities? PP: We will have just over 700 full-time optometrists working for us, and around 410 dispensing opticians, with well over 100 contact lens opticians. Across the two companies we take 140 graduate optometrists for their pre-reg programme so you can see the opportunities for professional people to come and work with us, and because of the number of locations that we will now have across the country it allows them mobility.

So, for example, if you're married and the family needs to relocate to another part of the country because your partner has been moved in a job, you can move with your partner and still stay with the company. The new company will be a subsidiary of Boots which operates across 30 countries worldwide and the career opportunities for any of those joining the company would be to go and work in any of those Alliance Boots companies across the world. DC: Would you give them any help in relocation? PP: Absolutely. If the job moves as the result of relocation there are packages available to people. DC: I know an optometrist who works in a Boots branch--she often talks to me about being a senior optometrist and managing as a career goal. Is this merger going to help her pursue this aim? PP: We have a mixed portfolio of store managers, we have about 100 of our practices being managed by optometrists. And yes, we're absolutely happy for people who want to go into management roles to be given the necessary training and development to be able to do those management jobs. So, the opportunities actually multiply as a result of the merger as we will have 690 stores.

DC: I have written in the past about your (Boots Opticians) franchise opportunities. What will happen to that now? PP: I think as we all know franchising is a proven business model in optics, and all our competitors have franchise models. Clearly we will need a bit of time to consider the different models we have in D&A and Boots Opticians but franchising will stay core to our business models. DC: I often walk past two practices, a D&A and a stand-alone Boots Opticians, in a town near where I live--they're sited not 30 paces from each other. Can you say anything about the future of both of these types of practices where they're in the same town centre? Both will surely not be trading under the same name of Boots Opticians one day? PP: What we will be doing in the coming weeks is considering all of our options on the portfolio front and one of the key reasons for the merger is we actually want to grow our business--there are many locations up and down the country where we currently don't have a D&A or Boots Opticians, and we think we can open in another 200 locations in the UK in future.

DC: Will you steer that Mr Patel, or will you have regional people saying this is a good area, we need more branches here? How will that work? PP: The feed will come from our local management. We will have a field structure there of regional and divisional managers and they will work very closely with the practice managers. Where they identify the need we will have the infrastructure set up in head office to follow that through. AF: The matter, as Pradip said, is to focus on the fact we've got at least 200 locations where we think we can grow and develop. So, there are plenty of opportunities. However, if we are in a town where there are two branches currently delivering eye examinations to a certain number of people, even if we were to combine the branches together, of course we still need the optometrists to do the eye examinations, the contact lens opticians, the DOs and the optical advisor team to serve those customers. So, we are not going to combine two stores to give the business to our competitors. The opportunities are still there.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What's causing concern to our competitors is that we will have more locations across the country then anyone else, we have much longer trading hours than anyone else and any of our competitors, and we can offer a far better differentiated offer than they can. The great thing is the awareness amongst the public will increase of 'Boots Opticians' as a brand, and the fact that Boots provides eye examinations in so many locations. DC: Do you have a deadline this year as to when these two companies have merged that you go to the public with a new advertising campaign identity? AF: I think it's too early to make a commitment. The intention in outline terms is first of all we need to wait for the regulatory approvals to merge the businesses then we need to pull all our research--both companies have got a fantastic clinical heritage, one is 260 years old the other is 160 years old (referring to Boots the chemist, established in 1849)--and both brands are absolutely focused on customer service and want to continue to develop that to new heights, so we will be starting to do the thinking around what customers want, pulling our research together.

We'll look at the information we've got and make sure we build up a very differentiated offer for customers in a market that is really dominated by cheap glasses. We have a lot more to offer than that. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The marketing programme will start to take place in terms of conversions, we hope to be starting to work our way through that. Over the next couple of years we should have converted most of the stores to one brand and when we 'get to scale' we can start to think where we are driving the marketing arm. DC: So Pradip is the chairman of this new group and Andy is its MD--can you give our readers a brief description of what these roles involve? PP: In defining my role, I think the good news is that the business has retained both of us and if you think about the amount of work that we will need to do over the next period of time as we merge the two companies and develop a new customer proposition. So really my role will be very much around transforming and integrating the two businesses so we create something that is better than both--that's my first role.

I think the second thing I have been asked to do, and will be working alongside Andy [Ferguson], is to come up with a growth strategy for the future years, how will we continue to grow and expand this business well into the future. And the third thing that I will be specifically accountable for is coming up with an operating model that combines the best of D&A and Boots. To come up with something better, that is what my role will really be in the early days. DC: ... You are from a pharmacy background? PP: ... Yes, I'm a pharmacist by profession. I've actually had the pleasure of working with Boots for the past 32 years. DC: I was going to ask who do you admire in the pharmacy area but you're going to say Boots aren't you? PP: I'm afraid, David, there's no one that comes close to Boots. DC: Andy, what will you be doing in your role? AF: Pradip and I are delighted to be working together and we've got to know each other well over the last few months as we've been working behind the scenes obviously in putting the deal together.

And I think it's great news for colleagues in the business and it's great news for the future of the business that the two of us are able to work together as there is a lot to do and I think it would be difficult to get through that at pace without our experience, and our intention is to move at pace on everything we do. DC: So there's lots of combined experience between you? AF: Yes, I have 12 years experience now at D&A in a variety of roles and I have been chief executive for the past four years and prior to that my background is in grocery retailing, so we have very complementary skills. For me I will be responsible for the overall leadership and accountability for the performance of the combined business. AF: I will be working to develop the customer proposition--what does the customer want? How do we make the new business differentiated in the market place. And then the various components involved in that, around range, price, promotions, operational model and so on, and everything to do with day-to-day training. I'll be very focused on making the businesses perform and keeping the businesses motoring as we go through the change.

I think very quickly we will find a way of creating something that is hugely powerful for the future to bring to the market place and really challenge Specsavers. DC: Different product offers will have to be merged and decisions will have to be made about who stays and who goes, in terms of lenses for instance. AF: Boots work with Hoya and we (D&A) work with BBGR and again we are in a fantastic position where both of us have very similar supply chains--we both operate on a model where we use a third party supplier to provide real quality products rather than trying to do them in-store in an hour and rush them out to customers. We concentrate on a quality offering, and that needs to be done in a specialised lab situation. Again, it's the same model, we will look at the best of both in terms of lenses and create the best of both or better than both. And, the same with frames. One of the big advantages of the merger, and one of the things that was particularly attractive, I think, from an Alliance Boots perspective was the De Rigo expertise in fashion and design.

De Rigo are a major manufacturer of frames and they have real strengths in their brand portfolio, products which are huge in the fragrance market--brands like John Paul Gaultier--which are licensed for De Rigo, and we see huge opportunities to create exclusive ranges for the business and frames and again to create something that is different--everything is about trying to create differentiation in our thinking, we really want to create something that is exciting and new and differentiated in the market place which is dominated by companies selling cheap glasses. DC: Just on staff again. I take it you are going to go through a period now, with the whole group becoming Boots Opticians, where you will be retraining and reemphasising some of your staff--when is that programme going to take place? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] PP: Clearly one of the things we need to do is agree what systems and processes we want to [see] go, and as we develop this operating model that is better than both, that will result in new processes, and there will be new training and development that will follow from that. One of the things I am really excited about is that D&A has an absolutely brilliant NVQ programme in Birmingham.

I'm looking forward to all my people joining that programme and getting a higher level of knowledge, skills and behaviour training because not only does it help them but also it allows them to help customers even more. The other good news, for both our companies really, is the Alliance Boots training and development machinery, which is absolutely huge. Boots has 2,600 pharmacy stores in the UK, to underpin that number of stores is a huge training and development machine, and we can access that for any level of training, for management to health and safety, and sales assistance. So, I think clearly there will be training and development, and the great news is that we've got the resources and the mechanics already in the business to access it. DC: In the past Boots was well-known for its training of optometrists. When I first joined this profession I was always told that it had a great training scheme. Is there anything to be said about training optometrists to do even better? PP: Absolutely, we take on just over 100 pre-reg graduates every year. Last year our first-time pass rate was 65% and we are constantly looking to see how we can develop the programme and help them become great optometrists.

One of the reasons I came to Boots Opticians from my pharmacy role is because sometimes I think we lose sight of our role because we come at it from a business perspective, but for me, what gets me out of bed in the morning is that our eye sight is really important if we want to enjoy our life. And often we take it for granted, we don't realise how important it is until something goes wrong with it, so what a privilege we have in the optics market that we actually help people with their eye sight so they live their life to the full. DC: I guess Mr Ferguson, you'd agree that the pre-regs you take on would be as happy to join this scheme. AF: Yes, we are both performing at the top end of the market. We have two graduate optometrist programmes that I think are the most successful in the industry and there's no doubt they're the programmes that student clamour to get on. So, again, being able to take the best of both of them will give us a great opportunity to take that lead even further. As Pradip said there's a real strength in D&A around the apprenticeship programme we run.

We have now supported over 400 apprentices through that scheme and we are absolutely committed to it and, as has been said, it is something that we want to bring quickly to the new business, and it's something that we find really helps us retain colleagues and motivate them, and encourages them to get onto that ladder of moving up from being an optical advisor to hopefully running through to the DO course, to become DOs and contact lens opticians, and some decide to become an optometrists after that. So there's a managed career path and, as Pradip said, some optometrists move into management and some of those optometrists move into central management roles, so there is a fantastic career structure here developing, all with the support of a fantastic business that has a huge scale, and is dedicated to clinical excellence and is a leader in health. So for us, in spite of the scaremongering of our competitors, this is great news for all of our colleagues in both businesses. * For the full transcripted interview go to COPYRIGHT 2009 Ten Alps Publishing No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder. Copyright 2009 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Article Details COSGB: Dollond & Aitchison A blog for the Commercial Overprint Society of Great Britain (COSGB). Saturday, February 19, 2011 Dollond & Aitchison On April 21, 1750, Peter Dollond opened a small optical business in Vine Street, near Hatton Garden in London. He was joined by his father John Dollond in 1752. The Dollonds became quite famous for the quality of their optical products, such that during 1768 John Dollond, now a partner in business, was appointed optician to King George III of the United Kingdom and the Duke of York. At the Great Exhibition 1851 in London, Dollonds were awarded a medal for the excellence of their optical instruments. In 1927 Dollond & Co. merged with Aitchison & Co., established by James Aitchison in 1889 in Fleet Street, to form Dollond & Aitchison, also known as D&A. During the 1960s Dolland & Aitchison was a subsidiary of the former British television company Television Wales and West.

From 1970 until 1982, D&A were successful in a series of acquisitions in the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy. Although in 1994, management buy-outs of the UK, Spanish and Italian companies took place. The Italian frame manufacturer De Rigo purchased D&A in 1999, later during 2001 D&A sold its manufacturing arm to BBGR. In the same year, restructuring of the company took place, consisting of the three wholly-owned subsidiaries and holding company. The company currently employs more than 2,500 staff, including more than 400 opticians. It has approximately 380 branches within the UK, consisting of around 240 group-owned sites and 140 franchises. On 29 January 2009, it was announced that Boots Opticians were to merge with D&A, forming a chain of 690 stores and 5,000 staff after Boots purchased a controlling share in D&A. Dollond & Aitchison were Royal Warrant holders and supplied glasses to the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.

By Paul Green Antique Brass Extending Naval Telescope c.1880 Bisley Antique Brass Extending Naval Telescope c.1880 Bisley × Ref:05186 For weekly notifications of new arrivals in your categories of interest please click HERE . This item has been sold but we have thousands of items in our warehouse that are not online. Email us to enquire about similar items that may not be online or call our experts on 020 8809 9605. Be the first to hear when new items are added to our site! Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter . This is a fabulous Antique 5 draw Brass Extending Naval Telescope, it is signed Dollond London and is c.1880 in date. It is made from solid brass is black leather bound and is in really excellent condition. It is presented in a brown cylindrical leather case which shows signs of wear. The case has a matching carry strap. The telescope was last used on the shooting range at Bisley. It is a very decorative object which would look amazing in your library. In excellent condition, please see photos for confirmation of condition.

Height 108 x Width 8.6 - when fully extended Height 30 x Width 8.6 - when closed Dimensions in inches: Height 3 feet, 6 inches x Width 3 inches - when fully extended Height 1 foot x Width 3 inches - when closed Telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation (such as visible light ). The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century, using glass lenses. They found use in terrestrial applications and astronomy. Within a few decades, the reflecting telescope was invented, which used mirrors. In the 20th century many new types of telescopes were invented, including radio telescopes in the 1930s and infrared telescopes in the 1960s. The word telescope now refers to a wide range of instruments detecting different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum , and in some cases other types of detectors.

The word "telescope" comes from the Greek "far-seeing" and was coined in 1611 by the Greek mathematician Giovanni Demisiani for one of Galileo Galilei 's instruments presented at a banquet at the Accademia dei Lincei . Dollond was one of the oldest chain of retail opticians in the United Kingdom , having been established in 1750. On 21 April 1750, Peter Dollond opened a small optical business in Vine Street, near Hatton Garden in London. He was joined by his father John Dollond in 1752. The Dollonds became quite famous for the quality of his optical products. In 1768 John Dollond, now a partner in business, was appointed optician to King George III and the Duke of York . In 1781, Peter Dollond made bifocal spectacles. At the Great Exhibition 1851 in London, Dollonds were awarded a medal for the excellence of their optical instruments. In 1889, James Aitchinson established his first business in Fleet Street.

In 1927 Dollond & Co merged with Aitchison & Co, to form Dollond & Aitchison (abbreviated D&A). The business was absorbed into Boots Opticians in 2009 and stores are being rebranded under the new owner. Angelica Kauffman, RA (1741 - 1807) was a Swiss-born Austrian Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Though born as "Kauffmann", Kauffman is the preferred spelling of her name in English; it is the form she herself used most in signing her correspondence, documents and paintings. While Kauffman produced many types of art, she identified herself primarily as a history painter, an unusual designation for a woman artist in the 18th century. History painting, was considered the most elite and lucrative category in academic painting during this time period. Under the direction of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the Royal Academy made a strong effort to promote history painting to a native audience who were more interested in commissioning and buying portraits and landscapes. Despite the popularity that Kauffman enjoyed in British society and her success as an artist, she was disappointed by the relative apathy that the British had towards history painting.

Ultimately she left Britain for the continent, where history painting was better established, held in higher esteem and patronized. The works of Angelica Kauffman have retained their reputation. By 1911, rooms decorated with her work were still to be seen in various quarters. At Hampton Court was a portrait of the duchess of Brunswick; in the National Portrait Gallery, a self-portrait. There were other pictures by her at Paris, at Dresden, in the Hermitage at St Petersburg, in the Alte Pinakothek atMunich, in Kadriorg Palace, Tallinn (Estonia). Satinwood is a hard and durable wood with a satinlike sheen, much used in cabinetmaking, especially in marquetry. It comes from two tropical trees of the family Rutaceae (rue family). East Indian or Ceylon satinwood is the yellowish or dark-brown heartwood of Chloroxylon swietenia. The lustrous, fine-grained, usually figured wood is used for furniture, cabinetwork, veneers, and backs of brushes. West Indian satinwood, sometimes called yellow wood, is considered superior.

It is the golden yellow, lustrous, even-grained wood found in the Florida Keys and the West Indies. It has long been valued for furniture. It is also used for musical instruments, veneers, and other purposes. Satinwood is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Sapindales, family Rutaceae. Our reference: 05186

Question: Which opticians, known in short as 'D&A', merged with Boots in 2009?
Answer: DOLLOND AND AITCHISON